21: Chapter 21 The Birth of the First Undead Hero

These thirteen animal-headed Undead Lich, wearing dark leather robes and holding skull bone staves, had a look that could only be described as very unique.

Xu Qin stood at the temple exit, reviewing this newly formed mage unit.

The thirteen Undead Lich stood in neat formation.

The one with the bull head was the sturdiest, and its staff was a size thicker than the others.

The one with the snake head was the leanest, its robe hanging loosely, and its bone staff was even taller than its own body.

"My mage corps is truly a cacophony of beasts."

Xu Qin chuckled twice, then turned and ran toward the Graveyard.

The Acolyte limit was 15.

Having just converted 13 of them, only 2 Acolytes were left to continue upgrading the buildings.

But he needed more Undead Lich, and he also needed Acolytes to work.

Therefore, he would spawn Acolytes first, then convert them into Undead Lich.

Xu Qin took thirteen skeletons and the corresponding materials from his inventory and tossed them into the Graveyard.

A flash of purple light.

Thirteen new Acolytes walked out.

Another group of guys with various animal heads.

"Go, get in there." Xu Qin pointed toward the Cursed Temple.

The new Acolytes hadn't even warmed up the plaza before they were sent off to change classes.

Three minutes later, another thirteen Undead Lich walked out of the temple.

Xu Qin spawned another thirteen Acolytes to fill the logistical gap.

"Good." He clapped his hands. "Twenty-six Undead Lich, thirteen Acolytes. Perfect."

Just as he was calculating whether to do another wave, Ding!

[Dark Altar construction complete!]

Ding!

[bone melting furnace upgraded to level 3!]

Two notifications popped up simultaneously.

Xu Qin's attention was instantly drawn away.

The altar!

He turned his head to look.

On the east side of the Graveyard plaza, a circular stone platform had risen from the ground.

The stone platform was about ten meters in diameter, with eight black bone pillars standing along the edge, dark red flames burning atop them.

In the center of the platform was a deeply recessed sacrificial pool, the bottom of which was covered in runes.

Dark red light seeped out from the gaps between the runes.

The entire altar exuded a kind of... how should one put it, an invincible aura.

But Xu Qin didn't run over immediately.

He first opened the Graveyard upgrade interface.

[Level 4 Graveyard upgrade conditions met!]

[Upgrade requirements: Wood × 2000, Stone × 1500, Iron Ore × 400, Bones × 800, Magic Crystal Fragments × 60, Soul Energy × 8000]

[Upgrade time: 12 hours]

Resources were sufficient.

"Start upgrade!"

[Consumed: Wood × 2000, Stone × 1500, Iron Ore × 400, Bones × 800, Magic Crystal Fragments × 60, Soul Energy × 8000]

[Level 3 Graveyard is upgrading... Estimated completion time: 12 hours]

Twelve hours.

Xu Qin did the math in his head.

There were a little over forty hours of the novice protection period remaining.

Since the Level 4 Graveyard took 12 hours, it looked like the Level 5 Graveyard would most likely take 24 hours.

That added up to 36 hours.

In other words, after the Graveyard was fully upgraded to Level 5, there would still be a 4-hour buffer.

"Quite comfortable." Xu Qin breathed a sigh of relief.

Before the novice period ended, getting the Graveyard to Level 5 shouldn't be a problem.

Of course, the prerequisite was that resources kept up.

But that... given his current monster-grinding efficiency and the seven-fold settlement, it wasn't an issue.

After arranging the Graveyard, Xu Qin finally jogged over to the Dark Altar.

He opened the main altar interface.

[Dark Altar · Level 1]

[Function Description: Sacrifice eligible units of the Undead Race to promote them into an "Undead Hero". Undead Hero possess independent skill trees, can equip gear, can lead armies to act independently, and their combat power far exceeds that of ordinary units.]

[Current limitation: The altar is Level 1, can promote at most 1 Undead Hero, and only 1 hero can be promoted per unit type (units that already have a hero cannot be promoted again).]

Units currently eligible for promotion:

Skeleton Soldier ✓

Skeleton Warthog ✓

Skeleton Sand Lizard ✓

Skeleton Sand Snake ✓

Skeleton Sand Scorpion ✓

Undead Sand Jackal ✓

Undead Sand Jackal Leader ✓

Undead Minotaur ✓

Undead Minotaur Chieftain ✓

Undead Lich ✓

Ineligible: Skeleton Vulture ✗ (Scouting role, does not possess hero promotion qualifications)

Ineligible: Skeleton Sand Rat ✗ (Support role, does not possess hero promotion qualifications)

Xu Qin looked at the list, his brows slightly furrowed.

Oh no, his indecisiveness was acting up.

Xu Qin looked at the Skeleton Soldier... Honestly, these five had high sentimental value.

After all, they had been with him since the first day.

But their stats... The foundation of a Tier 1 Skeleton Soldier was right there; even if promoted to a hero, how high could the ceiling be?

Then there was the Undead Sand Jackal Leader.

High attack power, and it had the War Cry buff.

But he had six leaders; the War Cry could already be rotated for full coverage.

Promoting another one would be icing on the cake, not a timely help.

What about the Undead Minotaur Chieftain?

Honestly, that was actually viable.

A tank-style hero with maxed-out tankiness.

But, he just felt it was missing something.

Xu Qin looked at them one by one, shaking his head repeatedly.

Finally, he looked at the twenty-six Undead Lich in the plaza.

Wither Curse, reduces defense and speed.

Undead Healing, area-of-effect healing.

Battlefield Conversion, resurrecting people on the spot.

Three skills, covering both offense and defense, with maxed-out support capabilities.

If an Undead Lich were promoted to a hero, what would these skills become?

More importantly... the Undead Lich was the "facade" unit of the Undead Race itself.

Skeleton Soldiers were grunts, Warthogs were mounts, uh... currently, and the others were all muscle.

But the Undead Lich?

The Undead Lich was the essence of the undead.

In what undead game was the Undead Lich not a high-level unit?

Xu Qin's chuunibyou spirit was burning wildly at this moment.

"Is there even a need to choose? It has to be the Undead Lich."

He looked at Acolyte Number One... uh, now it should be called Undead Lich Number One.

This one had been with him for a day and a half, upgraded the Crypt, built the furnace, and repaired countless broken bones.

It was just upgrading the Graveyard earlier.

It had both merit and hard work.

In terms of seniority, it ranked second; no undead dared to rank first.

In terms of unit foundation, the humanoid skeleton of the Undead Lich looked the most orthodox.

Thinking of this, Xu Qin clicked [Promote].

[Undead Hero Promotion · Consumed Materials:]

Soul Energy × 5000

Bones × 500

Magic Crystal Fragments × 25

Meat × 500

Xu Qin's mouth twitched after reading the numbers.

Honestly, it wasn't cheap.

But after upgrading the Graveyard to Level 4 earlier, he only had 4750 Soul Energy left... It wasn't enough.

Suddenly, he thought of the soul hall.

Since it was built, he hadn't collected from it once.

Xu Qin opened the soul hall interface and looked at the accumulated soul energy.

[Soul Energy: 460]

Ah, that's enough!

[Obtained: Soul Energy × 460]

Soul Energy: 5210 / 50000.

Bones: 620.

Magic Crystal Fragments: 28.

Meat: 10400.

"Promote!"

Xu Qin went all in decisively.

Resources were the kind of thing you just had to grind for.

[Consumed: Soul Energy × 5000, Bones × 500, Magic Crystal Fragments × 25, Meat × 500]

[Undead Hero promotion started...]

The materials transformed into streams of dark red light, flowing from all directions into the sacrificial pool in the center of the altar.

The runes at the bottom of the pool all lit up, and the light shot into the sky.

Boom!

The flames atop the eight bone pillars surged simultaneously, their color shifting from dark red to blood red.

"Go up."

Undead Lich Number One received the order, gripped its bone staff, and walked up the altar stone steps step by step.

It stood in the very center of the sacrificial pool.

Its robe fluttered in the energy currents.

And then...

Aooo!!!

A sharp wail exploded from the center of the altar.

Countless beams of blood-red light surged from the bottom of the sacrificial pool, wrapping around the skeleton of Undead Lich Number One.